Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale Gets Surprised By Kobe Bryant

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish women’s basketball program claimed the national championship thanks to Arike Ogunbowale hitting back-to-back buzzer-beating game-winners in the Final Four of the 2018 women’s basketball tournament.

After her instant rise to stardom, Ogunbowale received plenty of congratulatory messages on social media, including one from NBA legend Kobe Bryant.

Ogunbowale attracted Bryant’s attention after giving him a shoutout in a postgame interview.

“I know I just had to shoot it at the last minute. I mean, I didn’t want to give them a chance to get the ball. I went into Mamba Mentality. Kobe’s here, so that’s what I had to channel,” she said during the interview.

On Friday, Ogunbowale finally got to meet the future NBA Hall of Famer thanks to a meeting set up by Ellen Degeneres

National championship: Sunday, April 1

Josh became editor at COED in 2016 and is also the Editor-in-Chief of Campus Sports. He studied journalism at Seton Hill University and is a member of the FWAA and USBWA. His work has been featured in Sports Illustrated, ESPN.com, FOXSports.com, CBSSSports.com, along with others. You can contact Josh at: josh.sanchez@teamcoed.com.